Taking stock on ouryear of accomplishments

By Ryan Rule
SPEEA President

With the holidays here, and before the new year starts, it is a good time to take stock of SPEEA’s efforts and
many accomplishments this past year.

At the forefront are the successful contract
negotiations for our Puget Sound Professional
and Technical bargaining units. Using streamlined negotiations, your SPEEA Executive
Board was able to secure solid contracts that
ensure our 19,000 engineers and technical
workers at The Boeing Company receive
above-market pay for the next six years and
will continue to receive pay for all authorized
overtime worked. While pension and medical
plans were restructured, they are still among
the best offered by any large employer. Other
improvements include providing additional
benefits for those who accept voluntary layoffs and protections for those at risk due to
work movement. Although we were unable
to secure a paid parental leave plan, we clearly
got our message through as Boeing has already
planned to add this feature for our non-union
associates. I can only imagine they will have
no choice but to offer it to us eventually as
so many other companies have extended even
greater benefits in recent years.

Members at Triumph Composite Systems, Inc.
in Spokane also negotiated a new four-year
contract. With last month’s announcement
that Triumph is looking to sell the plant, having a fully negotiated contract in place provides
some stability for employees. When the plant is
sold, employees will be able to use their collective voice to begin a relationship with the new
company.

One SPEEA accomplishment I am very proud
of is the successful purchase and remodel of a
building in Wichita. After two decades of paying rent, we relocated the Midwest office and
finally achieved our goal of finding a permanent home for SPEEA in Wichita. Attending
the open house in October, it was evident the
hard work by members and our Midwest staff to
make it happen was an excellent investment. It is
not done yet, but the Executive Board recently
approved funding for a large, lighted SPEEA logo
on the building that will be seen by thousands of
Spirit AeroSystems employees every day.

Our legislative action efforts to bring account-ability to Washington state’s aerospace tax incen-tives continued this year. While efforts are stillshort of tying the estimated $8.7 billion tax breakpackage to jobs, we have succeeded in raising theissue of accountability and ensuring it remainspart of the conversation about corporate taxbreaks.

Working on aerospace tax accountability continues to help forge a stronger relationship with
our union brothers and sisters at IAM District
751. We meet and coordinate regularly on issues
important to SPEEA and Machinists. SPEEA
members at Triumph held a barbecue “lunch
on the line” in May as a show of solidarity with
locked out Machinists. Forced out after their
own contract talks broke down, the workers were
on the line for 43 days.

After more than a decade of legal work, a settlement was finally reached in our efforts to help
Midwest members who lost pension bridge benefits when Boeing sold its Wichita commercial
division in 2005.

This past year will also be remembered as the
year SPEEA members fully recognized the need
and benefits of working harder in the political arena to protect the interests of aerospace
workers. It has become more evident than ever
if SPEEA and the IFPTE are not advocating
for our members’ interests to political leaders,
the decisions they make stand a good chance of
overlooking the needs of workers. The IFPTE
Legislative Education Action Program (LEAP),
Political Action Committee (PAC), is our vehicle to enhance that ability. SPEEA worked the
implementation with Boeing and Spirit to make
it possible for members to now make voluntary
contributions to the IFPTE LEAP – PAC,
through payroll deduction.

This month, our SPEEA pilots start negotiations with Boeing for a new contract. While
one of our smaller bargaining units, they
enter negotiations with the support of 21,500
SPEEA-represented employees. Knowing you
have that kind of support at the negotiation
table is reassuring and empowering. It is the
same support every SPEEA member has when
they go to work each day.

Enjoy the upcoming holiday break with your
family and friends. Our work continues on
January 3.

Vote securescollectivebargaining fornewest IFPTEmembers

ONTARIO – By a 76% vote, the Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) staff law- yers secured the right to collective
bargaining.

The vote, which was counted Oct. 26, concluded a four-year campaign by IFPTE Local
160 to help the 354 lawyers gain a path to
improve their working conditions through
contract negotiations.

Local 160 represents about 8,000 engineers,
lawyers, and accountants. The LAO lawyers,
who provide legal assistance to people with
low incomes, are the local’s 15th bargaining
unit.

In a press release, Local 160 President Scott
Travers welcomed the new group. “LAO lawyers showed great strength in their fight for
collective bargaining rights,” he said. “I look
forward to working in collaboration with the
employer toward a collective agreement that
is mutually beneficial to both our members
and LAO.”